While it’s no shocking revelation that in this universe Lee’s favorite anything is Back to the Future, it is perhaps a shocking revelation that in a universe not so distant from ours, Back to the Future is Linz’s favorite movie.

We all know that Back to the Future had some major casting changes. In fact, before they could secure Michael J. Fox, Eric Stoltz filmed four weeks of footage as Marty McFly. Before that, C. Thomas Howell was being considered. John Lithgow was the first choice for Doc Brown. We’d be watching an entirely different film if any of those actors had been in Back to the Future.

Unfortunately (fortunately?) we’re not in any of those alternate universes to see those versions of Back to the Future. Today, however, we’re going to the Upside Down– today we’re looking at Corey Hart as Marty McFly.

No, I didn’t pull that out of some weird fanfiction I wrote. Canadian pop sensation of the 80s Corey Hart really was invited to screen test for the part of Marty McFly and Steven Spielberg even sent him a copy of the script. Ultimately, Hart (politely, we’re sure) turned the invitation down to focus on his music.

This information had been sitting on Corey Hart’s Wiki page for years when he talked about it in an interview with George Stroumboulopoulos on the CBC. Foolishly, I thought I knew everything there was to know about Corey Hart, so I never bothered to scour his Wiki entry, missing this information. Luckily, I uncovered a 1997 Jane Hawtin Live interview while going through my VHS collection recently where Hart tells his harrowing BTTF tale:

Ok, so maybe not harrowing. But, you know.

What would Hart’s McFly have been like? I think Hart may have played the part too dark, ala Stoltz, so Michael J. Fox was the correct actor for the part, but I can’t stop thinking about what might have been.

Watching Hart as McFly would have been a treat for me, but at the same time, if Hart took that part, we wouldn’t have his 1985 album Boy in the Box. It’s a good thing he decided to focus on his music after all. A universe without “Never Surrender”, “Boy in the Box”, and “Everything in My Heart” is not a universe I want to live in.

In fact, I spent a lot of time writing notes to my best friend and complaining that the radio wasn’t playing “Never Surrender”. In 1997.

(Thanks Hoser for keeping those! Hundreds of those… seriously, I have no idea why anyone puts up with me.)

And here you go, 1997 Linz– YouTube is a thing now and you can listen to and watch “Never Surrender” whenever you want:

Author: Linz Rewind
Linz is a freelance writer and editor who just so happens to be obsessed with E.T. for Atari. Try not to hold it against her.